next »

[AlexVsCoding]

WATCH FOOTAGE HERE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOoetPYxm7g&feature=youtu.be

Hello Everybody!

This is a quick prototype I put together to test an idea that popped into the head whilst sleeping.

DON'T SHOOT YOURSELF (2 PLAYERS)

Demo funtimes!

http://www.stencyl.com/game/play/16289

Basic objective:

Eliminate the other player.

How to achieve this objective:

Make the opponent shoot themselves.

Explanation of this:

Every time the black player moves (the player operating the black player pushes a button), the white player shoots.
Every time the white player moves (the player operating the white player pushes a button), the black player shoots.

The projectiles launched by the black player kill the white player.
The projectiles launched by the white player kill the black player.

The direction of the projectile is determined by the direction of the opponent.

Move through the maze and activate turrets around the level to give your colour more shooting positions.

Here is the first demo, hope you guys enjoy this Christmas Present!

Screenshots






As much feedback as possible would be highly appreciated!

[Baobab]

Whoa, I like the concept a lot. I wish I had a friend around to try it with so I could provide some actual feedback. But having watched your footage, I think it would be more interesting if it was more of an arena than a maze, and if walls stopped bullets. I think this would feel better because it would make it more of a geometry based shooter, using cover and having to aim your shots through bits of cover. I'm imagining the arena to look something like a paintball field, with symmetrical cover and turrets. And also if there was some kind of swapping mechanic with the turrets, you could flip their colors somehow to try to trap your opponent.

[AlexVsCoding]

Whoa, I like the concept a lot. I wish I had a friend around to try it with so I could provide some actual feedback. But having watched your footage, I think it would be more interesting if it was more of an arena than a maze, and if walls stopped bullets. I think this would feel better because it would make it more of a geometry based shooter, using cover and having to aim your shots through bits of cover. I'm imagining the arena to look something like a paintball field, with symmetrical cover and turrets. And also if there was some kind of swapping mechanic with the turrets, you could flip their colors somehow to try to trap your opponent.

Thanks for the fantastic feedback! All very useful contributions that I will consider for the final game. Thankfully the alterations to make the blocks obstruct the flight of the bullets is an one click task. I will test how the gameplay flows with my brother then decide whether to put up a duplicate of the game with this alteration or just update the existing copy. The switching mechanic of the turrets would be excellent for driving people from their bases if they were camping (to suddenly find all of your turrets turning hostile) or the provider of  hope if players are outgunned, they can activate the switcher and drastically turn the tables.

The main reason I went for such a confined maze structure for the levels was that I found with early gameplay larger arenas resulted in less frequent pressing of keys and in turn less shots fired (since the two are directly linked). I do like the premise for consistent movement (usually a weakness in normal shooters) being an advantage in gameplay e.g. navigating the level in the least number of key presses to restrict supplying the enemy with firepower. I will experiment with level layouts with mixes of complex closed spaces and open areas and add them to the list of levels. Please keep checking back and if you get chance to play this with a friend, let me know how you find the gameplay and which levels you enjoyed the most!

Thanks again for the feedback!

[AlexVsCoding]

Hello Everyone!

I have updated the gameplay with the suggested improvements of the fine feedback of Baobab.

Tests were made for solid walls and it didn't feel right - kills could only be achieved when two players were facing one another down a corridor/turret facing a player.

As a result, I found an alternative - as with the turrets, I made cover that can be captured. Players can pass through it but bullets of the opponent cannot.

Also, the additional switch button has been introduced. Upon colliding with the switch button, all turrets and walls in the level switch to opposite sides (black swaps to white, white swaps to black and grey remains grey).

Tweaks such as the opacity of the blocks on the level and the size of the level have been tweaked slightly.

Hope you guys enjoy the new demo and thanks again for reading!

[AlexVsCoding]

Hello! Have made some updates to the game with a co-op feature added as a experiment to try the controlling the opposite persons gun in a non competitive environment. Will post up a video when I get chance to play the prototype with someone else (late over here).

http://www.stencyl.com/game/play/16289

Basic outline for the co-op mode:
0. Players in the middle, enemies approach from 4 different directions
1. Work together to get the highest number of kills before you are overwhelmed!
2. Characters the same colour as you don't hurt you but can't be killed e.g. white players can't kill white players
3. Grey characters are killable by both players but can kill both players

(Feedback also on the games' name would be smashing if possible (whether you like it or not, it's not my most creatively titled game to date))

Any feedback would be fantastic, thank you!

[Alec S.]

I like the concept quite a bit.  I haven't had the chance to try it out multiplayer, but just playing around with it it seemed pretty fun.

Obviously polish and presentation could use some work.  I'm not sure whether the graphics are meant to be placeholder or just a minimalist style, but a bit more detail in the graphics could help readability of the game (especially making the walls into pits or something, to make it clear that bullets can pass over them, but players can't).  You should also add in sound effects, particularly for shooting and capturing, but also for whatever else you can think of that the player should be aware of.  

As for the title, possibly "Don't Shoot Yourself" might be better fitting.  "Shoot Yourself" seems a bit misleading.

[AlexVsCoding]

I like the concept quite a bit.  I haven't had the chance to try it out multiplayer, but just playing around with it it seemed pretty fun.

Obviously polish and presentation could use some work.  I'm not sure whether the graphics are meant to be placeholder or just a minimalist style, but a bit more detail in the graphics could help readability of the game (especially making the walls into pits or something, to make it clear that bullets can pass over them, but players can't).  You should also add in sound effects, particularly for shooting and capturing, but also for whatever else you can think of that the player should be aware of. 

As for the title, possibly "Don't Shoot Yourself" might be better fitting.  "Shoot Yourself" seems a bit misleading.

Amazing what difference one word can make to a title - immediately gives the player the challenge required to complete whilst playing the game. Thank you!

As for the presentation for the game, a lot of the games I have posted on Tigsource for a while now are sadly placeholder graphics (or at least less pretty than I hoped) - I prefer to tinker with gameplay mechanics till I'm/testers are happy with them then move onto the polish, but as of recent (final year University/teaching 2 days a week) that time for polish is limited. I will find time to doodle potential  art directions for the project (the idea for the pits has got the wheels in my head turning with ideas ^^) so I'll post them up here - I'll have the time soon to keep plonking new stuff on here, especially when my University work is finished for good! As for audio, the sound designer I work with I've given 4 different projects and he has coursework to do also so may have to look further afield for sound effects (planning to learn the basics of digital music production over the summer so hopefully will be able to produce soundtracks myself.) Thanks again for the feedback and hope you get the opportunity to play it with a friend!

[AlexVsCoding]

Hello!



Managed to get a bit o' time spare this morning and blasted a new look for the game - experimenting with upon earlier suggestions basing it around islands rather than walls. The latest demo is up below and below that are some screenshots. Whilst updating the visual style, I added in the feature of the turrets displaying which direction they are facing since the characters were smaller than before and it gives an idea of which way the player should be watching out for incoming fire from. Still experimenting with the turret style in question and other assets may change depending on feedback. Your thoughts and opinions are highly valued. Thanks!

http://www.stencyl.com/game/play/16289

Screenshots